The Analyst

Bournemouth were denied victory despite having a two-goal lead in north London. Check out the best facts and Opta data in our Tottenham vs Bournemouth stats page.

Some bad luck and a sloppy foul from Kepa Arrizabalaga cost Bournemouth as the Cherries lost a two-goal lead to only draw 2-2 at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Andoni Iraola’s men were the better team for much of the contest and led 2-0 through Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson, only for an arguably fortunate Pape Sarr goal and a penalty from Son Heung-min after he was brought down by the Bournemouth goalkeeper to see the spoils shared at Tottenham Hostpur Stadium.

The result leaves Bournemouth in eighth place in the Premier League, five points off the top four and three points off fifth, while Spurs remain 13th.

After their disappointing result at AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday, Spurs looked to respond but did not start the game the way their fans would have hoped.

Cristian Romero was making his first start since 8 December and looked as rusty as one might expect as his errant passes led to excellent early chances for Evanilson and Justin Kluivert, but Guglielmo Vicario was alert to make the required saves.

After 19 minutes, Bournemouth had recorded six shots with four on target, with five of those shots coming inside the penalty area despite having had just six touches in Tottenham Hotspur’s box. Without Vicario, the game could have been over by then.

Spurs calmed things down and stopped making as many mistakes as the game settled, but they were punished from another sloppy pass in the 42nd minute. Pedro Porro gave the ball away to Milos Kerkez, who ran down the left unopposed and placed a pin-perfect cross into the path of Tavernier, who made no mistake with his finish at the far post.

Bournemouth thought they had doubled their lead in the 52nd minute from an absolutely stunning counter-attack, started by Tavernier winning the ball in his own penalty area and ending with Kluivert scoring at the other end moments later, but Antoine Semenyo had been offside in the build-up to deny what would have been one of the goals of the season.

Ange Postecoglou had made two changes at the break, bringing Son and Lucas Bergvall on for Brennan Johnson and Yves Bissouma, and Son came close to equalising moments after Bournemouth’s disallowed goal when his deflected shot struck the outside of the post.

As well as Romero’s comeback, Micky van de Ven came off the bench to return for the first time since his injury against Elfsborg in January.

Kerkez forced Vicario into another excellent save with a shot at his near post, while Sarr fired wide moments later at the other end as the hosts looked for a leveller.

It was the Cherries who found the net next, though, with Kluivert bamboozling the Spurs defence by letting the ball run across his body before sliding a ball into the path of Evanilson, who dinked Vicario to give Bournemouth a two-goal cushion.

It didn’t last long though as Sarr appeared shaped to put a ball into the box, but his effort looped over Kepa Arrizabalaga and went in off the post. It was unclear if it had been an intentional effort at goal, but it gave Spurs No team has scored more open play goals from crosses in the Premier League this season than Bournemouth’s eight, with three of those being assisted by Milos Kerkez.hope, not least because all eight of Sarr’s previous goals for the club had been in victories.

That hope was risen further when Kepa inexplicably raced from his goal to bundle Son over in the box. Son stepped up to dispatch a cheeky penalty to level things up with six minutes remaining.

Both teams had to settle for a point, though Spurs will have come out the happier of the two, hoping that momentum can see them get past AZ in their Europa League last-16 second leg next Thursday.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Bournemouth stats from their Premier League meeting at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.

Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.

Tottenham vs Bournemouth: Post-Match Facts

This afternoon’s comeback was the 26th different time that Tottenham Hotspur have been 2+ goals down in a Premier League match and came back to salvage at least a point (W9 D17), with only Manchester United doing so on more occasions in the history of the competition (30).

No team has scored more open play goals from crosses in the Premier League this season than Bournemouth’s eight, with three of those being assisted by Milos Kerkez.

Only Liverpool (35) and Arsenal (26, prior to playing Man Utd later today) have picked up more points away from home than Bournemouth in the Premier League this season (23), whilst only Liverpool (38) have scored more goals on the road than Bournemouth (30), with the Cherries netting 30+ goals away from home in a single Premier League campaign for the first time ever this season.

We look ahead to Sunday’s Premier League game with our Tottenham vs Bournemouth prediction and preview. Ange Postecoglou’s men will look to hit back at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after their midweek defeat in Europe.

Tottenham vs Bournemouth Stats: The Key Insights

The Opta supercomputer slightly favours Tottenham to take the three points on Sunday, winning 39.1% of pre-match simulations.

Only Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium (56) has seen more Premier League goals in 2024-25 than the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (52 – F28 A24).

Only Crystal Palace (-7.1) have underperformed their non-penalty xG figure by more than Bournemouth (-5.4) in the Premier League this season (44.4 xG, 39 goals).

Tottenham host Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, bidding to bounce back from yet another disappointing result in midweek.

It’s been a dismal campaign for Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham, who slipped to a 1-0 first-leg defeat away at AZ on Thursday in their Europa League round-of-16 clash, leaving them with work to do in the return leg next week if they are to keep their hopes alive of a first major trophy since 2008.

They have domestic action to deal with first, however, and Tottenham need to pick up the pace in the Premier League if they are to avoid a hugely disappointing bottom-half finish, currently sitting 13th and nine points behind 10th-placed Aston Villa.

Tottenham have lost seven Premier League home games this season – it’s their joint-most in a 38-game season in the competition (level with 1996-97), while only in 1993-94 have they lost more (nine).

They drew a blank in their last home game, losing 1-0 to Manchester City, and Tottenham have now averaged just 0.8 goals a match across their four home contests in 2025, compared to 2.5 in their first 10 of the season.

Injuries have forced Postecoglou to turn to his younger players this term, with a league-leading 2,582 minutes played by teenagers this season, while the 57 appearances given to teens is their second-most behind the 1993-94 campaign (82).

In stark contrast to Tottenham, Bournemouth are enjoying a magnificent season, with Andoni Iraola’s men very much in the hunt for European football next term despite a recent rough patch.

Bournemouth head into Sunday’s game in seventh, just four points off the Champions League places, though Iraola will be desperate to ensure his side arrest a slump that’s seen them lose three of their last four Premier League games.

That’s as many defeats as they had experienced in their previous 18 league games (10 wins, five draws).

They’ve suffered back-to-back defeats against Wolves and then Brighton, and they’ll be hoping to avoid losing three league games in a row for the first time since May 2024.

Bournemouth lead the way in the Premier League for the most pressures resulting in a turnover in the final third with 300, while Tottenham are second with 299.

Only Mohamed Salah (16) has scored more away goals in the Premier League this season than Justin Kluivert (10), with the Dutchman’s 10 goals on the road the most ever by a Bournemouth player in a single top-flight campaign.

In terms of injury news, Iraola will remain without Adam Smith, Marcos Senesi and Enes Ünal, while Illia Zabarnyi is still out through suspension after he was sent off against Wolves.

Postecoglou received yet another selection blow against AZ as Dominic Solanke, only just returning from a spell on the sidelines, was forced off after coming on as a second-half substitute.

While centre-back duo Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero could return to the starting XI, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison and Radu Dragusin are still out through injury.

Tottenham vs Bournemouth Head-to-Head

Tottenham have won six of their seven Premier League home games against Bournemouth, with the exception being a 3-2 loss in April 2023.

The last clash between the sides was back in December, when a Dean Huijsen header from a corner was enough to earn Bournemouth a 1-0 win at the Vitality Stadium.

That victory means Sunday’s game gives Bournemouth the opportunity to do the league double over Tottenham for the first time in the club’s history.

Tottenham vs Bournemouth Prediction

The Opta supercomputer is backing Tottenham to end their two-game losing run on Sunday, coming out on top in 39.1% of its 10,000 pre-match simulations.

Bournemouth are far from written off, though, given a 36.6% chance of returning to winning ways, while the draw is rated at a probability of 24.4%.

Disappointingly for Tottenham fans, their team’s Premier League campaign looks all but over, with just a 0.07% chance of somehow scraping Europa League qualification with what would be a miraculous end to the season. Spurs’ current spot of 13th is rated as their most likely finishing position.

Bournemouth’s season, meanwhile, is very much alive. They are given an 8.8% chance of qualifying for the Champions League, while their Europa League hopes are rated at 12.8%. Seventh is the Cherries’ predicted final spot.

Tottenham vs Bournemouth Predicted Lineups

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off on Sunday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Can Ange Postecoglou make it four Premier League wins in a row? We look ahead to Wednesday’s clash with our Tottenham vs Manchester City prediction and preview.

Tottenham vs Man City Stats: The Key Insights

The Opta supercomputer expects an away win, with Manchester City triumphing in 46.7% of pre-match simulations.

Tottenham could become the first side to beat both Manchester sides three times each in a single campaign across all competitions.

City have failed to win any of their last three Premier League away games against London teams (D2 L1), having won six in a row before this.

Manchester City will hope to get back on track after a disappointing week. Pep Guardiola’s side went crashing out of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid, before a 2-0 defeat to runaway leaders Liverpool on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium.

City will hope to regroup for Wednesday night’s trip to a resurgent Tottenham.

Erling Haaland sat out of both defeats last week but Guardiola hopes to have his talisman back from a knee injury at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. John Stones limped off at the Santiago Bernabéu, joining Rodri, Oscar Bobb and Manuel Akanji as long-term absentees.

Man City will be eager for the return of Haaland, who has scored six goals in five Premier League games in London this season. Only former Leeds United striker Tony Yeboah has scored more in the capital in a single campaign among players to play for non-London sides (8 in 1995-96) in the competition’s history.

Haaland also needs just one strike on the road to make it 10+ home goals and 10+ away goals in three different Premier League campaigns (also 2022-23 and 2023-24). The only player to have ever done so in three consecutive seasons is former Spurs star Harry Kane (2015-16 to 2017-18).

However, City’s record in the capital leaves a lot of questions for Guardiola. They have failed to win any of their last three top-flight away games against London sides, drawing with Crystal Palace and Brentford before losing to Arsenal. City had won six in a row against capital-city clubs before this in the competition. They last had a longer run without a league win in London between February and November 2020 (4), while they last did so in the same season in 2014-15 (5).

Changing that record against an in-form Spurs could prove a tough task. Ange Postecoglou’s side have quietened their critics with three straight league wins over Brentford, Manchester United and Ipswich Town, as many victories as they’d managed in their previous 15 games (D2 L10).

Brennan Johnson scored twice, along with goals for Djed Spence and Dejan Kulusevski, as Tottenham hammered relegation-threatened Ipswich 4-1 on Saturday. That win lifted them to 12th, though they have not won four in a row since September/October 2023.

Son Heung-min teed up both Johnson goals against Ipswich, taking him to nine assists in the 2024-25 competition. Only in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2023-24 has he provided more in a single campaign in the Premier League (10 each time).

After winning the reverse fixture in November as well as eliminating them from the EFL Cup, beating City again on Wednesday would make Tottenham the first team to beat both Manchester sides three times each in a single campaign across all competitions. They have already overcome Man Utd on three separate occasions this season.

Postecoglou will aim for that piece of history without first-choice defenders Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, as well as Dominic Solanke, Richarlison and Radu Dragusin. Timo Werner is back in training and could return to the squad.

Tottenham vs Man City Head-to-Head

Tottenham are looking to do the league double over Man City for the first time since the 2021-22 season, while they last did so without conceding in the 2009-10 campaign.

A stunning performance at the Etihad in November saw Spurs thrash City 4-0, with goals from Johnson, James Maddison (2) and Pedro Porro.

They also beat City 2-1 in the EFL Cup, thanks to goals from Werner and Pape Sarr before Matheus Nunes’ consolation strike.

The last team to win three games in a campaign against the reigning English champions was Man Utd (vs Man City in 2019-20), while the last time Spurs did so was in 1984-85 (vs Liverpool).

City won this exact fixture 2-0 last season, however, as Haaland’s double propelled them towards the title. Guardiola’s side had lost each of their first four league meetings at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without scoring.

Tottenham vs Man City Prediction

The Opta supercomputer backed Guardiola’s side for victory as Man City claimed all three points in 46.7% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.

Tottenham still hold a 30% likelihood of doing the double over the reigning champions, while the draw came in at 23.2%.

Tottenham vs Man City Predicted Lineups

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off on Wednesday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

James Maddison gave Spurs their first home league win in over three months. Check out the best facts and Opta data in our Tottenham vs Man Utd stats page.

Tottenham won their first home league game since early November as James Maddison’s goal was enough to beat Manchester United 1-0 on Sunday.

Spurs had not won on home soil in the Premier League in their last seven attempts (D2 L5), but Maddison’s first ever goal against the Red Devils when he followed up Lucas Bergvall’s saved effort secured victory. The win moves Spurs up to 12th, while United drop down to 15th.

Ange Postecoglou was able to recall Guglielmo Vicario in goal for the first time since late November, while Ruben Amorim was forced to name a very inexperienced bench due to illness and injuries, with Victor Lindelöf (30) the only player over the age of 19. The Portuguese coach only made the one sub in the game, bringing young forward Chido Obi-Martin on in stoppage time for his senior debut.

United succumbed to their 12th league defeat of the season, having only lost more in one other Premier League campaign (14 in 2023-24).

Spurs took the lead in the 13th minute. A deep cross from Rodrigo Bentancur found Son Heung-min at the far post. His volley fell kindly for Bergvall, and his shot was parried by André Onana straight to the alert Maddison, who reacted first to slot past the Cameroon international.

Alejandro Garnacho should have levelled in the 23rd minute, but fired over when played in by Bruno Fernandes, while Mathys Tel was denied by Onana at the other end with a near-post effort soon after, but Spurs went in ahead at the break.

Only Leicester City (7) have scored fewer first-half goals in the Premier League this season than United (9), who have scored just once in the first half of their last 10 league games combined, with that goal a Bruno Fernandes penalty against Brighton in January.

Garnacho had another good opportunity 10 minutes into the second half but his shot was saved comfortably by the returning Vicario, and the Italian made an excellent save from the same player again moments later after Garnacho fired a low strike at his near post.

Tottenham pressed for a second goal and had 12 shots between the 49th and 69th minute, but only two of those were on target. In total, United faced 22 shots from the hosts in this game. The only other time this season they have faced 20+ shots in a Premier League game was in the reverse fixture against Spurs (24) in September.

Joshua Zirkzee had a header flash just wide of the far post, while Dejan Kulusevski was denied by Onana and Djed Spence made a vital block from Rasmus Højlund as the game went one way and the other, with both teams desperate for points.

United may not have turned to the bench much, but Postecoglou did, including returns from injury for Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert. That, coupled with a much-needed three points, was cause for celebration for Tottenham fans.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Manchester United stats from their Premier League meeting at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.

Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.

Tottenham vs Man Utd: Post-Match Facts

Manchester United have lost 12 of their 25 Premier League games this season (W8 D5), their most defeats from their first 25 matches of a league campaign since 1973-74 (13) – when they were last relegated from the top-flight.

Tottenham have won back-to-back Premier League games (v Brentford and Manchester United) for just the second time this season (also in September v Brentford and Manchester United).

This was just the second time in their last 28 home league games that Tottenham have kept a clean sheet (also vs Everton in August).

After coming on as a substitute, Chido Obi-Martin became United’s third-youngest ever Premier League player (17 years, 79 days), behind only Angel Gomes (16y 263d) and Shola Shoretire (17y 19d).

Two teams having seasons to forget meet at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. We look ahead this Premier League fixture with our Tottenham vs Manchester United prediction and preview.

Tottenham vs Man Utd Stats: The Key Insights

The Opta supercomputer slightly favours Tottenham, handing them a 39.2% win probability.

Tottenham are winless in their last seven Premier League home games.

But, Spurs are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games against United.

Two teams badly in need of Premier League points face off on Sunday, as Tottenham welcome Manchester United to north London.

Calling the 2024-25 season underwhelming would be an understatement for both Spurs and Man Utd, but if these teams are to gain some respectability out of their Premier League campaigns, then a win in this contest would be a solid start.

Spurs did claim a much-needed victory – their first in the top flight since mid-December – by winning 2-0 at Brentford on Matchday 24, but they have since been dumped out of both the EFL Cup by Liverpool and the FA Cup at the hands of Aston Villa.

Ange Postecoglou has had to deal with a plethora of injuries, but he has also fallen well short of expectations, with Spurs in 14th place heading into MD 25.

Tottenham are winless in their last seven Premier League home games (D2 L5), their longest such run in the competition since going eight without a win from March to October in 2008. Their five defeats in these last seven games are more than they suffered in their previous 17 at home in the league (W13 D0 L4).

Indeed, Spurs are looking to win back-to-back Premier League games for just the second time this season, previously doing so in September when, funnily enough, their two wins were over Brentford and United.

The Red Devils, on the other hand, lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace in their last league outing, before fortunately scraping past Leicester City in the FA Cup, benefiting from a Harry Maguire winner in stoppage time that would have been disallowed for offside had VAR been in place.

Since Ruben Amorim took charge in November, only five sides have picked up fewer points in the Premier League than United (14). Amorim is also only the fourth manager to lose 7+ of his first 13 top-flight games in charge of the Red Devils, along with John Chapman (10), AH Albut (seven) and Jimmy Murphy (seven).

That being said, in that same time, Spurs have lost eight league matches, while they have also dropped 16 points from winning positions – more than any other team in the league in that timeframe.

So, which players will be hoping to make a mark on Sunday?

One shining light under Amorim has been the form of Amad Diallo. No player has scored more goals (6) or provided more assists (6) for Manchester United in the Premier League this season than the winger. However, he has not scored or assisted in any of his last three league games, only attempting two shots over this time while creating 10 chances without any leading to a goal.

Spurs will be hoping Bayern Munich loanee Mathys Tel, who was also linked with a move to United in the winter transfer window, can pick up where he left off after scoring his first goal for the club late on against Villa.

Son Heung-min has not hit the heights of recent seasons, though played a part in both of Spurs’ goals against Brentford. In assisting Pape Sarr’s effort, the South Korea star became the club’s outright leading assister in the Premier League, with 69 to his name, overtaking Darren Anderton (68).

He has already teed up seven goals this term, only recording more assists in a single campaign in 2019-20 (10), 2020-21 (10) and 2023-24 (10).

Tottenham vs Man Utd Head-to-Head

Tottenham have already beaten United twice in all competitions this season, 3-0 in the Premier League and 4-3 in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.

Not since 1989-90 have Spurs beaten Man Utd three times in a single campaign, while the last side overall to defeat the Red Devils three times in a season were Chelsea in 2012-13.

Tottenham are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games against United (W2 D2) and are looking to complete the league double over the Red Devils for the first time since that 1989-90 season.

United have conceded at least twice in each of their last four Premier League games against Spurs – the last team they conceded multiple goals against in 5+ consecutive league games was Arsenal (five between 1975 and 1978).

Tottenham vs Man Utd Prediction

Given the poor form of these two, it is hard to select a winner, and the Opta supercomputer is predicting a tight fixture.

Spurs are made the slight favourites, with a 39.2% win probability.

United, on the other hand, came out on top in 36.3% of the supercomputer’s data-led sims. The likelihood of a draw is therefore 24.5%.

Tottenham vs Man Utd Predicted Lineups

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Tottenham have endured terrible problems with injuries this season, but how much are manager Ange Postecoglou’s tactics to blame?

The Premier League has arguably never witnessed a team like this version of Tottenham Hotspur.

Mired in the bottom half of the table and looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone despite having scored fewer goals (48) than only the top two, Ange Postecoglou’s side are an enigma.

In all competitions, there have been wins over Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa, and there have been defeats to Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Everton and Crystal Palace among many, many, many others. Tottenham have lost 16 games already this season.

The explanation, according to Postecoglou, is plain to see. “I don’t know how else to explain it,” he said after last Sunday’s FA Cup defeat to Villa, when asked why his team’s form is so bad. “I don’t know how else to explain it if you can’t see that this team is just trying to play its hardest in the most extreme of circumstances.

“Two and a half months of asking 18-year-olds and 17-year-olds and senior players, with no rest, to play Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday. I’ll keep going for two-and-a-half months and if you think that is not at all a factor of how this team is performing then there’s nothing else I can say. There’s nothing else I can explain.”

The Australian insists his team’s injury crisis is to blame. At Villa Park, he was without 11 first-team players. He has been without at least eight injured players for the last 11 matches, since the home draw with Wolves on 29 December. They haven’t had fewer than five players missing through injury since facing Ipswich on 10 November. “Every time I’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel, it’s usually been an oncoming train,” Postecoglou said last month of the crisis.

The Tottenham manager believes rotten luck has done for his team. The injury list has robbed him of many of the best players in his squad and has knackered the players who have remained available. It’s a disastrous recipe that has left the remaining players overcooked.

But questions have persisted throughout this crisis as to Postecoglou’s culpability for these problems. The decision not to relent on his intense style of football and relentless demands may only have exacerbated things.

Postecoglou has stuck to his guns when the topic is brought up in press conferences, insisting this group will be stronger in the long term and the team will be better off having continued to play his style of football with no compromises.

He might well be right. Only time will tell – if he continues to be afforded that luxury – whether these players will be better for this period of suffering; whether they will grow into a stronger collective force that can play Angeball to its full potential.

Tottenham are clearly planning for the future and gambling on Postecoglou being proved right. Five of the eight signings they have made in the last two transfer windows have been teenagers, and no heads have rolled in reaction to their terrible results. For now, at least, Postecoglou retains the backing of chairman Daniel Levy.

But does there come a point when the thinking needs to become a little less long-term? Would a move away from the Australian’s commitment to what he insists will benefit the team in the long run give his fit players a better chance of winning games?

That’s a difficult question to answer, but the numbers from Spurs’ season so far suggest Postecoglou’s tactics might not exactly have helped matters.

Muscle injuries tend to be caused by being overloaded more than being the result of a specific incident or impact, and of those, hamstring injuries are most associated with being overworked. Data from premierinjuries.com shows that 39% of the injuries that have caused a Spurs player to miss at least one game this season have been hamstring-related, compared to a league-wide average of 23.5%. Hamstring injuries make up 58% of Tottenham’s muscle-related injuries, compared to 41% across the whole Premier League.

Tottenham’s injuries have put more strain on the available players, in turn increasing the likelihood of more of them straining muscles or pinging hamstrings. But it also can’t have helped that Postecoglou asks his players to run and sprint more than any other team in the top flight.

Spurs run at high intensity more than any other team in the Premier League. They lead the top flight for total sprints, with 4,200, and are second to Ipswich (2,697.5 km) for total distance covered (2,693.8 km). Tottenham’s players have made more than 700 more sprints than Ipswich (3,473).

Postecoglou’s team barely seem to drop their intensity. The speed at which they restart play regardless of whether they are winning, drawing or losing is a topic we have covered before, and they run and sprint more than most teams whether they have the ball or not.

They press more intensely than every other team in the Premier League. They have pressured an opponent on the ball in the final third more times (1,505) than any other team in the league. Their PPDA (opposition passes per defensive action – a measure of proactivity without the ball) is the lowest in the division, at 9.4, showing they allow their opponents the fewest passes for every attempt they make to overturn possession. They also lead the Premier League for pressures made by a player sprinting, with 819 – 82 more than the team in second (Bournemouth – 737) and at least 160 more than 15 of the other 18 teams.

When they win the ball, the intensity barely drops. Their players have made more off-the-ball runs when a teammate has possession (4,155) than any other team in the Premier League this season, and more off-the-ball sprints (1,361) than everyone else, too. Their players have covered 9.1 km with off-the-ball runs, which is by a distance the most in the Premier League, while only Nottingham Forest’s players average a longer distance covered with each of their runs (22.0 metres) than Spurs (21.8m). Note that Spurs’ players have made more than 1,200 more off-ball runs than Forest’s.

Clearly, it is in the game plan to outrun the opposition. Their win rate when they outrun their opponents in league games this season is 53.8%, but drops to 9.1% when their opponents run further than them. They have lost every single game in which their opponents have recorded more sprints than them.

It isn’t possible to say for sure how much causation there is in the link between Tottenham’s running and sprinting numbers and their hamstring-related injuries, but the correlation is so strong that it is difficult to ignore.

In recent weeks, however, Spurs have suffered fewer muscle-related injuries than earlier in the season (though there has also been some undeniably bad luck in Radu Dragusin’s ACL injury and Rodrigo Bentancur suffering a concussion, while Micky van de Ven’s return has been delayed again). There is more light at the end of the tunnel for Postecoglou, with rumours that five key first-team players in Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner could all return to full training this week. Wilson Odobert could be on his way back, too.

The challenge will be for Postecoglou to keep the majority of his squad fit as he seeks to fulfil his goal to end Tottenham’s trophy drought this season, having insisted back in September: “I always win things in my second year.” With Spurs out of both the FA Cup and League Cup after a damaging last seven days, the Europa League now represents Postecoglou’s only hope.

There is a quirk in Tottenham’s recent numbers that may suggest the Australian is aware of the need to ask less of his players. They have only posted fewer than 150 sprints in four Premier League games all season, and those came in their four most recent matches.

Postecoglou also insisted last week that his team “have hardly trained in four months”. Even accounting for the likely exaggeration, the Spurs manager is clearly aware of how damaging it could be to continue to ask too much of his players.

It could also be, though, that the players in those four most recent games just didn’t have enough in the tank to sprint as much as Postecoglou asked them to. Whatever the reason, it will be interesting to see against United on Sunday just how much the players run.

The aim for Spurs now has to be to get their injured players back to fitness, while avoiding any more serious injuries. If they can manage that, it will then be a question of whether can start winning games in the here and now.

Do that, and they may somehow manage to save their season as well as their beleaguered manager.

We look ahead to Sunday’s FA Cup fourth-round clash at Villa Park with our Aston Villa vs Tottenham prediction and preview. Two teams looking to end trophy droughts do battle in an all-Premier League contest.

Aston Villa vs Tottenham Stats: The Key Insights

The Opta supercomputer favours Aston Villa to progress inside 90 minutes on Sunday, giving them a 47.7% chance of doing so.

Villa are looking to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2014-15, when they eventually reached the final before losing 4-0 to Arsenal.

Tottenham have progressed from four of their last five FA Cup fourth-round ties, though they did lose 1-0 against Manchester City at this stage of the competition last season.

Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham will look to keep their hopes of domestic cup glory this season alive when they travel to Villa Park on Sunday to take on Aston Villa.

It’s been a difficult second campaign in north London for Postecoglou, whose team currently sit a lowly 15th in the Premier League and crashed out of the EFL Cup on Thursday after they saw a one-goal advantage from their semi-final first leg eradicated by Liverpool, ultimately losing 4-1 on aggregate.

Even getting to this stage of the FA Cup was a struggle, with Tottenham taken to extra-time by National League part-timers Tamworth in the third round before finally kicking on to secure their progression with an eventual 3-0 triumph.

The scoreline certainly didn’t befit the performance, but as with any cup competition, getting the result is what mattered, particularly for Postecoglou who famously said earlier this season his teams “always win things” in his second campaign in charge at a club.

Even with his side’s shocking Premier League season so far, an FA Cup trophy would etch Postecoglou’s name into Spurs folklore, ending a lean period for the club’s fans who last witnessed their team lift a trophy in 2008, beating Chelsea to win the League Cup.

It would also move Tottenham into third for all-time FA Cup trophies with nine, behind rivals Arsenal (14) and Manchester United (13).

They’ll first have to get past Villa, though, who will have their own designs on FA Cup success this season.

Unai Emery has done a superb job since taking over at Villa Park in October 2022, guiding the Villans to Champions League qualification and subsequent progression to the knockout round of this season’s competition.

Whether they go on to win that competition remains to be seen, but for now the focus is the FA Cup, a trophy Villa last lifted in 1957, a remarkable drought for a club of their size.

Winning the FA Cup this season would move them up to joint-third all-time for most successes in the competition, joining Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool as eight-time winners.

They’ll have to keep a close eye on Son Heung-min this Sunday, however.

In the Premier League era (since 1992-93), Son has been involved in more FA Cup goals than any other Tottenham player (26 – 14 goals, 12 assists). In that time, only Harry Kane and Jermain Defoe (15 each) have scored more in the competition for Tottenham than their current captain.

In terms of team news, Emery will remain without the likes of Pau Torres, Matty Cash and Tyrone Mings, while Ollie Watkins is also a doubt. However, Marcus Rashford could be in line to make his debut after joining on loan from Manchester United.

Tottenham’s injury problems persist, and they received another blow in the defeat at Liverpool as Richarlison limped off, joining a packed physio room that already includes key players such as Dominic Solanke, Cristian Romero, Micky Van de Ven and Radu Dragusin.

Aston Villa vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

Villa have progressed from just one of their last six FA Cup ties against Tottenham, winning 1-0 at White Hart Lane in a third-round replay after a goalless draw at Villa Park in 1992.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have won nine of their last 10 away games against Villa in all competitions (one defeat), with their last two wins coming by the same 4-0 scoreline (April 2022 and March 2024).

The last meeting between the sides was back in November, when a Solanke double and goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison helped Tottenham cruise to a 4-1 Premier League home victory.

Aston Villa vs Tottenham Prediction

Villa are backed by the Opta supercomputer to get the job done within 90 minutes on Sunday, doing so in 47.7% of pre-match simulations.

Tottenham and Postecoglou badly need to progress, and they won inside 90 minutes in 26.2% of the sims.

FA Cup replays are now a thing of the past, and the game went to extra-time following a draw after 90 minutes in 26.1% of the supercomputer’s simulations.

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Tottenham take a slender lead into the second leg of their League Cup semi-final against Liverpool, but can they hold on to it in front of a raucous Anfield crowd? We look ahead to the game with our Liverpool vs Tottenham prediction and preview.

Liverpool vs Tottenham Stats: The Key Insights

Despite trailing in the tie, Liverpool remain favourites to make it through to the EFL Cup final, progressing to Wembley in 61.3% of the Opta supercomputer’s simulations.

Liverpool have lost just one of their last 27 home games against Tottenham in all competitions (W19 D7), and are unbeaten in 14 (W10 D4) since a 2-0 loss in May 2011.

Liverpool have progressed to the final on two of the last three occasions they’ve lost the first leg of a League Cup semi-final, doing so against Crystal Palace in 2000-01 and Sheffield United in 2002-03.

Tottenham Hotspur are one game away from reaching their ninth League Cup final and their first since 2020-21, where they ultimately lost to Manchester City. Their League Cup triumph in 2007-08 remains the last time they won a trophy.

Spurs hold a slender 1-0 advantage heading into their decisive away leg against Liverpool. Lucas Bergvall scored the winner in the first leg, sweeping home from inside the box in the closing stages in north London. The Swedish youngster could become the first Spurs player to score in both legs of a League Cup semi-final since Roman Pavlyuchenko in 2008-09.

Bergvall was arguably lucky to still be on the pitch when he scored, though, fortunate not to receive a second yellow card for a late challenge on Kostas Tsimikas. His winner made him the youngest Spurs player (18y 341d) to score in the League Cup since Gareth Bale in September 2007 (18y 72d vs Middlesbrough).

Despite trailing on aggregate, Liverpool will be very confident of overturning the one-goal deficit on Thursday. Since losing to Nottingham Forest in September, they are unbeaten in 15 games at home in all competitions, scoring at least twice in each of those matches. They’ve also progressed to the final on two of the last three occasions they’ve lost the first leg of a League Cup semi-final, doing so against Crystal Palace in 2000-01 and Sheffield United in 2002-03.

Mohamed Salah was once again the hero for Liverpool last weekend as they overcame a high-quality Bournemouth side to strengthen their grip at the top of the Premier League.

Salah scored a brace – a penalty and a beautiful curled effort 15 minutes from time – to seal the win. The Egyptian has been involved in nine goals in his last six appearances against Tottenham in all competitions, scoring six and assisting three, and will be a key threat once again.

Spurs, meanwhile, secured an impressive away win at Brentford in their last game, their first victory in the Premier League in seven matches. It was by no means a comfortable win, though, with Brentford attempting 20 shots and registering 2.29 xG – both were their highest totals in a Premier League game where they failed to score. Yet Spurs held on, and they will look to take that defensive resilience to Anfield.

They’ll need it, as their recent record away to Liverpool is poor. Tottenham have not won a fixture there since 2011 – a 2-0 victory towards the end of the season – failing in 14 attempts (D4 L11). That said, they have remained competitive in those fixtures, with only four of those defeats coming by a margin of more than one goal.

Liverpool will be without Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was substituted at Bournemouth and has been ruled out for this fixture. Conor Bradley is expected to deputise at right-back. Joe Gomez is Liverpool’s only other absentee, meaning Arne Slot’s side are close to full strength.

The same can certainly not be said for the visitors. Spurs were hit with yet another injury blow at Brentford at the weekend, with Radu Dragusin ruled out for the season with an ACL injury.

First-team regulars Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario, and Brennan Johnson are nearing a return but will not be available for this match. Micky van de Ven has also been ruled out by Ange Postecoglou. Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke remain long-term absentees. New signings Mathys Tel and Kevin Danso, however, are fit and available.

Liverpool vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

Liverpool have lost just one of their last 27 home games against Tottenham in all competitions (W19 D7), and are unbeaten in 14 (W10 D4) since a 2-0 loss in May 2011.

Tottenham are looking to beat Liverpool twice in the same season for the first time since 2010-11, when they did the double over them in the Premier League.

Liverpool vs Tottenham Prediction

Liverpool are strong favourites to win this match inside 90 minutes according to the Opta supercomputer, winning on the night in 73.3% of the pre-game simulations. Tottenham won or drew inside 90 minutes in 26.7% of simulations, with either result enough to take them to the final at Wembley.

When factoring in extra-time and penalties, the Opta supercomputer sees Liverpool reach the EFL Cup final in 61.3% of simulations, while Tottenham progress 38.7% of the time.

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off on Thursday night, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Mathys Tel finally secured a loan move away from Bayern Munich to join Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day. Can he provide the boost Spurs need in what has been a dreadful 2024-25?

After what was one of the most drawn-out transfer stories of the winter window, Mathys Tel finally secured a move to a Premier League club with hours to spare on deadline day.

After being linked to Manchester United and Chelsea throughout the month, it was Tottenham Hotspur who took the short-term gamble on the teenager to give them a much-needed lift in the final months of the season.

This is a move that should work for both parties. Tottenham have acquired one of the most exciting teenagers in European football, while Tel should get the playing time he was lacking at Bayern Munich.

It’s hardly unsurprising given he is still just 19 years of age and the depth of attacking talent elsewhere at the club, but Tel has had to make do with coming off the bench to make an impact for most of his career at Bayern.

Overall, just 16 of his 83 competitive appearances for the German club have come in the starting lineup and he’s played just over half of his minutes in a Bayern shirt as a substitute (51.8%).

But he has made a decent impact off the bench, scoring 10 goals and assisting 5 more in 1,281 minutes as a substitute. Overall, those 10 goals as a sub are more than any other player for a Bundesliga club since his Bayern debut in August 2022.

His first goal for Bayern came as a starter in their 5-0 DFB-Pokal victory over Viktoria Köln in August 2022. With that goal, he became Bayern’s all-time youngest scorer, aged just 17 years and 126 days old.

Ten days later, he scored against Stuttgart on his first start in the Bundesliga, becoming Bayern’s youngest-ever scorer in the competition and the fourth-youngest (17 years, 136 days) overall behind only Youssoufa Moukoko, Florian Wirtz and Nuri Sahin.

Since the start of last season, Tel has been one of the most impressive teenagers in European football for attacking output. Across all competitions, only Spanish wonderkid Lamine Yamal (37) has been involved in more goals than Tel (17) among teenagers from the top five European leagues. However, Tel’s much more limited game time has seen him average a goal involvement every 110 minutes, which is more frequent than Yamal (143 mins).

Tel’s main strength is his ability to travel with the ball and make things happen. Across all competitions since the start of last season, Tel has averaged 1.54 shots per 90 following ball carries – that’s higher than any other Bundesliga player to have played at least 1,500 competitive minutes.

He’s a high-volume shooter in general, with only Victor Boniface (4.7), Deniz Undav (4.5), Harry Kane (4.2) and Michael Gregoritsch (4.0) averaging more shots per 90 than him (3.9) across all competitions for Bundesliga clubs since the start of last season (minimum 1,500 mins played).

The Frenchman also features high up the rankings for take-ons. Among the same group of players, he is only below Jamie Gittens (3.9), Jamal Musiala (3.7), Brajan Gruda (3.7) and Leroy Sané (3.2) for successful take-ons per 90, with Tel (3.1) using his pace to outwit opponents. His 52% success rate in take-ons is higher than all of those aforementioned players.

Coming from a team that likes to press high up the pitch will be useful too, with Spurs the most prolific pressing team in the Premier League in that regard under Ange Postecoglou. Across all competitions since the start of 2023-24, Bayern have averaged the most high turnovers per game (10.0) and have the lowest PPDA of 10.6 – opposition passes per defensive action – among Bundesliga clubs.

Tel will offer versatility to Postecoglou for the rest of this season. His most common position for Bayern has been on the left wing, from where Tel can cut inside on to his right foot. That is how he scored three of his seven league goals last season.

With Spurs captain Son Heung-min playing from the left, it’s likely the Frenchman will have to find somewhere else to fit in. Son has struggled for consistency this season, though, and this could be an ideal opportunity to add some competition on that flank. With the option to buy Tel permanently at the end of the season, he could even become Son’s long-term successor.

It’s also unlikely he’ll be able to oust Dominic Solanke in the number nine position, with the former Bournemouth man so crucial to Spurs’ out-of-possession work. That means the right wing might be where he gets most of opportunities at Spurs when both Son and Solanke are fit.

Although by no means one-footed, Tel isn’t as strong on his left, converting just one of 17 left-foot shots in all competitions since the start of last season (5.9%) compared to seven of 56 (12.5%) with his right. Therefore, if deployed from the right flank at Spurs, he’d likely become less threatening in the situations he’s caught the eye in while playing on the left at Bayern. That’s not to say he won’t shoot on his right foot from the right wing, but Tel may find it harder to get himself into dangerous positions on that side of the pitch.

Tel’s arrival comes at a time where Spurs are in need of bodies, too. Attacking players Solanke, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, James Maddison and Wilson Odobert are all currently out injured, although most are expected to return later this month.

All five of those are near certain to be out for Tottenham’s crucial EFL Cup semi-final second-leg tie against Liverpool this week, whereas Tel should be free to make his debut as the club look to reach the final in their quest for a first piece of silverware since winning the same competition in 2008.

Back then, it was a player they brought into the club in January who made the difference, with Jonathan Woodgate scoring the winner in the final against Chelsea. Only time will tell if Tel can be the difference this time.

Brentford are favoured by the Opta supercomputer to inflict yet more misery on Spurs this weekend. Look ahead to the game at the Gtech Community Stadium with our Brentford vs Tottenham prediction and preview.

Brentford vs Tottenham Stats: The Key Insights

The Opta supercomputer makes Brentford the favourites, giving them a 44.2% win probability to Tottenham’s 31.9%.

Ange Postecoglou could be become the first Spurs manager in over 30 years to oversee five straight Premier League defeats.

Brentford are the league’s leading home scorers but have failed to win their past four at the Gtech.

Tottenham are looking to arrest an alarming run of form to alleviate the pressure on Ange Postecoglou when they make the short trip to face Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday.

Postecoglou is a man under increasing scrutiny at Spurs, who have lost six of their past seven Premier League matches (D1), with no team amassing fewer points since this run started on 22 December.

You have to go back over 20 years for the last time Spurs lost five games in a row, a run of six in October and November 2004 – a streak that included three defeats each for Jacques Santini and Martin Jol.

No Spurs manager has lost five on the spin since Ossie Ardiles way back in 1994, with the Argentine overseeing seven straight defeats.

A win in the Europa League on Thursday provided some respite, though. Tottenham’s academy trio of Mikey Moore, Dane Scarlett and Damola Ajayi helped them overcome Elfsborg 3-0 to confirm their passage into the competition’s last 16.

Results may have been underwhelming, but for the neutral, there’s been no shortage of excitement in matches under Postecoglou. His 61 top-flight games have seen an average of 3.6 goals per match—the highest goal ratio of any manager with 50 or more matches managed (120 goals for, 98 against). The fewest games required for a manager to both score and concede over 100 goals is 65, a record set by former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi.

While Tottenham have struggled as a collective, Dejan Kulusevski has been a bright note. No player has created more open-play chances than his 51 in the Premier League this season, while his average of 2.5 created per 90 minutes this term is bettered by only two Spurs players in a season on record (minimum 900 minutes) – Christian Eriksen in 2015-16 (2.6 per 90) and Aaron Lennon in 2010-11 (2.51 per 90).

In a good omen for Spurs, Brentford’s previously strong home record has hit a rough patch, with the Bees now winless in their past four at the Gtech (D1, L3). They have now gone 13 matches without a home clean sheet, last having a longer league run between November 2003 and April 2004 (14). They are, however, the league’s leading scorers on home soil with 29 and picked up just their second win from 10 games at Crystal Palace last weekend.

Interestingly, the team scoring first in this fixture has failed to win the previous five encounters, with Spurs fighting back to win twice, Brentford once, and two draws.

You should certainly expect goals in this one, too. Brentford and Tottenham are two of three sides, alongside Wolves, whose games have seen 80-plus goals in the Premier League this season (83 for Spurs, 82 for Brentford). The Bees have faced the most shots faced against them (429), and only four sides have had more than Spurs’ 333 shots at goal.

Bryan Mbeumo is likely to be the hosts’ danger man. The Cameroon forward has 17 goal involvements this term (14 goals, 3 assists), with only four players involved in more. Ivan Toney is the only player to have recorded more in a single season for Brentford (20 goals, 4 assists in the 2022-23 campaign).

Thomas Frank was hopeful Kevin Schade and Christian Nørgaard would be fine after both were substituted in last weekend’s win at Palace, though Rico Henry has a hamstring issue after only recently returning from a long lay-off.

Tottenham’s scarcely believable injury list has undoubtedly contributed to their woes, and centre-back Radu Dragusin is the latest to be added to the treatment table. He picked up a knee injury in the second half of the game in midweek.

The Romanian joins James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, Guglielmo Vicario, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero on the sidelines for this one.

Brentford vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

Brentford have faced Spurs seven times in the Premier League and have recorded just one victory in those matches (D3 L3).

Each of the three games played between these sides at the Gtech has finished in a draw.

Spurs were victorious the last time these sides met, coming out as 3-1 victors at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September. They are now looking to complete a league double over the Bees for the first time.

Brentford vs Tottenham Prediction

Brentford’s impressive form at the Gtech this season means they are rated as favourites with the supercomputer to triumph over Tottenham, winning 44.2% of the 10,000 pre-match simulations.

Despite their well-documented struggles, Spurs still retain a 31.8% chance of coming out on top, with the draw occurring 24.0% of the time.

Brentford currently occupy 11th spot in the Premier League table are most likely to finish there come May (17.4%). Spurs, conversely, are stumbling down in 15th and have a 20% chance of finishing there come the end of the season. Their chances of being relegated are only rated as 0.3% possibility.

Brentford vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.